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Ho is the ultimate refuge in one's heart, where no matter what happens outside, returning ho brings solace and protection to the soul.
But now,
she has entered the ho!
Li Zhiyuan could only rush toward the main room seeing that he couldn't wake Cui Guiying, where his siblings lay asleep on the ground.
"Panzi, wake up!"
"Leizi, you wake up fast!"
"Sister Yingzi, wake up!"
Li Zhiyuan dashed from one sibling to another, ceaselessly shaking and calling out to each one, but like Cui Guiying in the kitchen, none of them would wake.
"Drip... Drip... Drip..."
Li Zhiyuan looked up, gazing at the door between the main room and the kitchen, where Little Huang Ying's figure was not to be seen.
"Phew..."
He sighed in relief, but the next mont he noticed a puddle of water accumulating at his feet, growing larger and beginning to overflow and spread across the uneven ground.
"Drip... Drip... Drip..."
Droplets of water kept falling on him, soaking his clothes and bringing a sticky, wet coldness.
A pair of hands appeared beside his line of sight.
Finally,
icy hands grasped his neck.
Li Zhiyuan's body trembled, a strong sensation of suffocation overca him.
But soon, that feeling of asphyxiation gradually receded, for the hands did not linger long at his neck but began to slide down slowly.
A shadow lood from above, and Li Zhiyuan lifted his head with difficulty.
The person above also slowly lowered their head at this ti, dripping wet hair steadily fell and stuck to the boy's face, akin to a black giant maw, gradually covering the boy's head bit by bit,
until...
it engulfed him.
...
"Yuanhou, slow down, slow down, my behind is chafed, ouch... it hurts!"
Li Sanjiang held onto Li Weihan's waist with one hand and his own buttocks with the other, trying his best to sit up a bit.
"Uncle, don't wriggle about, we'll fall if you keep moving!"
"Pah, how can I not move when you're biking so fast!"
After picking up Li Sanjiang from the white affair banquet, Li Weihan didn't stop once as he cycled ho.
The narrow and bumpy paths through the farmland indeed made the ride harsh for those being carried, plus Li Sanjiang was getting old and really couldn't withstand such jostling.
Helplessly, Li Weihan saw that they were nearing ho and the shortcut they took was getting increasingly difficult to navigate, so he had to slow down the bike's speed a bit.
"Ah..." Li Sanjiang finally breathed a sigh of relief as he touched the cigarette case in his pocket and said, "Yuanhou, let's stop and have a smoke."
"We'll be ho soon, Uncle. Let's smoke when we get there."
"Hey, what's the hurry? Didn't you already send Liu Xiazi to check on things? I reckon Little Yuanhou is now back at ho able to eat and run around."
"Is Liu Xiazi really useful?"
Li Weihan wasn't much of a believer in Liu Jinxia's abilities, having seen the mother and daughter in their most difficult tis. If they truly had the power to communicate with the spirits, why would they have allowed themselves to suffer so?
Comparatively, he trusted Li Sanjiang more, after all, he was specialized in dealing with corpses, and he rembered his life always seed quite prosperous.
"Well, how to put it... Liu Xiazi in the early days was just a swindler, but later she seed to figure out so tricks. There's an old saying, isn't there, 'Hemp ropes always break at their thinnest' – where she's involved, it all breaks on her first, and by breaking often, she gained experience."
"What does that an, Uncle? I don't understand."
"If you don't get it, never mind. The worst that could happen to Little Yuanhou is he's been hexed, and that kind of thing, Liu Xiazi can actually handle quite well, considering the past kindness you've shown them."
"I'm just worried about the kid; I'd rather the spirit vex instead."
"You, Yuanhou, really play favorites, always fussing over your daughter in the past and now over your grandson; but it's also true, your daughter indeed did well. This bicycle of yours was bought by your daughter in the past, right?
However, being vexed by a spirit isn't necessarily suffering too much; perhaps it's quite enjoyable, like those who hang themselves. Before the noose tightens around the neck, through that loop, they see all sorts of fascinating things."
"Uncle, the way you talk about it makes it sound like a good thing?"
"Of course, it's nothing good. Just think of it as if the kid had a bout of tombstone syndro, which village doesn't have a few mischievous unfortunate lads each year? It's just a small ailnt."
"By the way, Uncle, what do you plan to do with the Corpse?"
"Deal with it?" Li Sanjiang's emotions surged suddenly, and his tone beca stern, "Do you think I find my life too comfortable and must ddle with those who can walk in water up to no good?"
Li Weihan's heart tightened upon hearing this, and he pedaled faster again.
"Hey, hey, slow down! Yuanhou, what are you worrying about again? That Corpse, no matter how formidable, you all got away from it, so it's not a big deal anymore. Could she possibly chase all the way to your house?"
"We're here!"
When the bicycle reached the dam top, Li Weihan got off imdiately to steady the bike.
Leaping off the back seat, Li Sanjiang rubbed his behind non-stop.
Li Weihan: "Guiying, Guiying!"
"Coming, coming, keep it down, don't make noise, the kids are all asleep." Cui Guiying ca out to et them, first greeting Li Sanjiang, "Uncle, you've arrived."
"Yeah, I'm here." Li Sanjiang didn't dawdle, flicking his sleeves towards the inside, "Let's go see the kid first."
Arriving at the threshold, Li Sanjiang squatted down to check on Li Zhiyuan.
"Should I wake up the kids?" asked Cui Guiying.
"No need, the kid is fine now, no more vexing spirit. Did Liu Xiazi co?"
"She did." Cui Guiying recounted the afternoon's events.
Li Sanjiang nodded after listening: "It's because you, Guiying, were kind and generous in the past, allowing Yuanhou to lend them a helping hand when mother and daughter were in need. Today's favor has been repaid through your child and grandchild, thanks to acquiring virtue."
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